Egypt holds summit on de-escalating armed conflict in Gaza

CAIRO -- An international peace summit kicked off Saturday at Egypt's new administrative capital east of Cairo, where heads of state and ministers from several countries are discussing ways to de-escalate the ongoing Israel-Hamas armed conflict in the Gaza Strip.

Dubbed the Cairo Summit for Peace, the conference was called by Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi to address de-escalating the conflict in Gaza, pursue a ceasefire, and seek a resolution to the long-standing Israeli-Palestinian conflict via a "two-state solution."

"Egypt condemns the terrorization of civilians and expresses its astonishment at the world's response to a humanitarian crisis in Gaza," Sisi said in his speech at the opening of the summit.

The Egyptian president rejected the displacement of Palestinians to Egyptian lands, affirming that liquidating the Palestinian issue without a just solution "will never happen and will not happen at Egypt's expense."

Sisi stressed that a comprehensive and just solution to the Palestinian issue on the basis of "the two-state solution" must be reached.

The summit is attended by some 30 Arab and Western leaders including the Palestinian president, the king of Jordan, the emir of Qatar, the president of the United Arab Emirates, the Italian prime minister, the Spanish prime minister, the Greek prime minister, the Cypriot president, and the Canadian prime minister.

The president of the European Council, the high representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, the United Nations secretary-general and the special envoy of the Chinese government on the Middle East issue are also attending.

Since Oct 7, Hamas and Israel have engaged in a bloody confrontation, leading to more than 5,000 deaths on both sides.